A massive release of documents from the investigation into the sinking of the cargo ship El Faro in Hurricane Joaquin shows the captain twice rejected suggestions to change course just hours before sinking.

All 33 crew members on board the tanker died when the ship encountered Category 3 Hurricane Joaquin on Oct. 1.

The information released by the National Transportation Board this morning includes a 500-page transcript of conversations that occurred on the deck of El Faro, including two calls made by the first and second mates on the ship to the captain late on Sept. 30 and in the early morning hours of Oct. 1.

National Transportation Board photo of El Faro on bottom of sea floor.

At one point early in the transcript the captain can be heard discussing a slight route change that he said will take them 60 miles south of the storm.

“Tough to plan when you don’t know, but we made a little diversion here, we’re gonna be further south of the eye,” he tells someone. “It should be fine. We are gonna be fine – not should be – we are gonna be fine.”

According to NTSB officials who described the unprecedented amount of voice data recorder information retrieved, the captain, who was not on the deck late on Sept. 30, was called after new forecast information was received about Joaquin.

During the first call after 11 p.m. Sept. 30, the third mate told the captain that he estimated that at 4 a.m. the next morning, the ship would be 22 miles from the center of the hurricane.

The third mate said they could head south at 2 a.m. the get more distance from the storm, but the captain said to maintain the current course. At 1:01 a.m. on Oct. 1, the second mate called the captain and discussed altering the ship’s course.

“After that phone call ended, the second mate indicated to another crew member that the captain wanted to stay on the planned course and it did not change,” said James Ritter, the NTSB’s director of office of research and engineering during a press conference. ”

NTSB officials said today’s documents were solely fact-based, with no analysis of the crew or captain’s actions during the ill-fated trip from Jacksonville to Puerto Rico. The investigation is ongoing with more determinations to come.

Included in the documents released is a 2,000-page meteorology report. Officials on Tuesday indicated that many different sources of weather information were available to the crew and captain and at times the information seemed to be in conflict.